Ron's Longing

Strangely enough.

The glowing red "string" didn't look very long, only two or three inches or so, yet it could connect the two ends of the ten-inch wand, and not even in a straight line.

Harry could see clearly that the cross-section of the wand was also carved with various symbols, all of which were now glowing faintly red.

Who knew how much time passed—maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours. At last, the "string" reached the end and split in two, and the halves of the wand quickly snapped together.

"So, is it... done?" Harry swallowed, his voice a little hoarse.

"Not quite." Silvan didn't look back. He stared unblinkingly at the wand in front of him and waved a hand. "You'd better step back a little. I don't know if it'll explode this time."

As soon as he finished speaking, Harry and the others stumbled backward. Neville and Seamus nearly crashed into each other... They'd been standing there for so long that their legs had gone a little numb.

They were already thinking about leaving, but before they could make it to the door, a harsh scraping sound reached their ears.

Creak, creak, like someone sawing wood.

As the others watched in terror, the wand floated into the air by itself and began to shudder violently.

In a daze, Ron thought he saw the shadow of a strange creature.

It was only about twenty inches tall, with rough, gray-brown skin like a tree stump. Most striking of all was its head, which wore a scarlet hat that looked as if it had been soaked in blood.

The monster roared and swung a wooden club with all its might.

"Whack!"

Someone gave him a hard slap on the shoulder, and Ron jolted awake.

"Run! It's a Red Cap!" he shouted, reaching for Harry.

"What are you talking about? What Red Cap?" Harry was yanked so hard he nearly fell over.

He had no choice but to join Seamus and Neville in grabbing hold of Ron, who was thrashing around wildly.

With everyone's combined effort, Ron gradually calmed down.

The familiar dormitory surrounded them, and he could still faintly hear laughter from the common room.

"W-where's the Red Cap?" He rubbed his eyes and asked, bewildered.

"What Red Cap?" Harry let go of his arm. "There's nothing here. What's wrong with you?"

"But I clearly saw..." Ron rubbed his eyes again. "Did I imagine it?"

"You didn't imagine it." Silvan spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

He studied Ron with interest, then glanced at the wand on the table.

"How amazing. It should have exploded, but somehow the fusion succeeded, and you saw what the core originally looked like."

He picked up the wand.

[Holly, Red Cap nerve, ten inches]

[Status: Perfect]

[Traits: Poison Jinx success rate +5%; Bombarda success rate +10%]

Merlin's beard.

Silvan's hand tightened slightly around the wand.

Two traits. The bonuses were low, so low they didn't even deserve names, but Merlin's beard, there were two of them!

And they were both positive!

Silvan looked at Ron again, thought for a moment, then held out the wand.

"Want to try it?"

"Huh?" Ron froze. "Me?"

"Yes." Silvan nodded.

Ron didn't give it much thought. He jumped up excitedly, wiped his hands, and took the wand.

He'd dreamed of owning a new wand of his own.

Although this wand wasn't his, at least it was new.

"Give it a try," Silvan said.

"Try what?"

"A spell. The one you know best."

"Oh." Ron licked his lips and cleared his throat.

"Daisy, sweet cream, and sunlight."

"Turn this shabby old table yellow."

The wand hummed...

A flash of light passed before everyone's eyes, and the brown table turned bright yellow in the blink of an eye.

"Oh, my God!" Ron covered his mouth, utterly incredulous. "That spell actually worked!"

He wasn't the only one. Harry's eyes had gone wide, too.

He'd seen Ron try that spell on the train, but nothing had happened then.

So why had it worked now?

"Looks like you and this wand are a good match." Silvan raised an eyebrow. "Would you consider buying it? I can give you a great deal."

"How much?" Ron's eyes lit up.

"Seven Galleons," Silvan said. "That's the price for a new student."

The light in Ron's eyes quickly faded. Reluctantly, he set the wand back on the table.

"I don't have any money. I don't even have seven Sickles." He lowered his head, his face turning red.

"I'll pay for it!" Harry reached into his pocket with a grand flourish and pulled out a handful of glittering gold coins.

He had money—a small mountain of it in his vault. Buying a wand for a friend would be easy.

"No, you don't have to!" Ron grabbed Harry's arm, his face turning even redder.

"And besides... I-I already have a wand. I don't need another one."

If Ron hadn't kept glancing at the table while he said that, Harry might have believed him.

But Ron wouldn't hear of it, and Harry couldn't very well force him to buy it.

"That's all right. I can hold on to it for you." Silvan took the wand, and the two of them finally stopped arguing.

"I'll put it in Ollivanders Wand Shop later. You can buy it whenever you want."

"Okay!" Ron licked his lips again and nodded firmly.

"Make sure you save it for me," he added.

Once Silvan agreed, Ron quickly returned to his usual self. He and the other three apologized to Silvan, then left the dormitory.

The celebration wasn't over yet. They wanted to grab something to eat and have a bottle of Butterbeer.

The dormitory was left with just one person again.

Silvan took out the wand once more and recalled how the wand and its core had fused.

He knew that violent shuddering and piercing noise all too well. They were definitely signs that it was about to explode.

But in the instant before the explosion, every strange occurrence had suddenly vanished.

And, by an even greater coincidence, Ron had been able to see the Red Cap in the core.

That was a kind of resonance. It could only happen when a wizard was highly compatible with a wand during its creation, and under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible.

After all, wandmakers always chose a quiet place to make wands, usually with no other wizards nearby.

Silvan's situation this time was a special case.

He hadn't expected it to work at all. He'd only done it to reassure his classmates and give himself an excuse.

He wanted them to see how dangerous his usual work was. It could even explode. He only shared a dormitory with them for their own good.

Silvan had planned it all out. The only thing he hadn't expected was that it would work this time.

He'd failed for a whole month, and now he'd finally done it!

"Because of Ron?" Silvan murmured, remembering the words he'd heard so often that they were practically ingrained in his ears.

The wand chooses the wizard...